“My apologies — not this time.”

Mei Xiyao gave a light shake of her head, offering no further explanation, and then went past the several men and up the stairs.

Watching her graceful, receding figure, a few of the Mixed Origin Grandmasters exchanged a glance and quickly sat back down. The other cultivators, faces full of anticipation, hurriedly withdrew their gazes as well.

The Mysterious Sword Perfected Master always brought his own ingredients, and once he left, the Eight-Direction Dining Hall would open its kitchen and extend a broad invitation to its guests. But it wasn’t without exception. This time, for instance, Nie Jun had brought the corpses of that pack of demons from the Thousand Demon Den. The Thousand Demon Den was a different matter from wild demons — Wutong Mountain’s people dared eat their flesh, but this crowd of small powers hadn’t the nerve, didn’t so much as dare ask a single question about it.

“Make ready. The cave estate opens soon.”

Perfected Master Zhang flicked his sleeve and likewise headed for the door. He didn’t lower his voice — on the contrary, he deliberately let everyone hear. Such a magnanimous manner drew everyone’s admiration once again. The Mysterious Sword Perfected Master’s cultivation might be unfathomably deep, but there was nothing in it for anyone else; by comparison, the Xuanguang Cave Perfected Master was rather the better sort.

As Perfected Master Zhang left the dining hall, a crowd of people noisily followed him out.

Only then did Mei Xiyao, who had just gone upstairs, come back down, several of the hall’s people behind her, all gazing quietly at the floor below. Only once the space below had emptied of people did she let out an unconscious sigh, the others giving bitter smiles and shaking their heads too.

This scene was exactly the same as last time. All of them powerhouses who had cultivated up through such hardship — did they truly believe in Xuanguang Cave’s fine title of “immortal sect”?

In the corner, Shen Yi rose to his feet as well.

This Perfected Master Zhang’s strange conduct was, if anything, something a small demon-catcher who had fought his way up out of Baiyun County could see more clearly than most. Still, wary though he was, what had to be done had to be done. He’d spent all that time developing in peace back in Great Qian for precisely this — so that once he came out, he wouldn’t have to be so timid and hesitant.

“Grandmaster hasn’t come for the cave estate?”

Mei Xiyao had noticed the ink-robed young man early on. For those in her line of receiving and seeing off guests, how could any cultivator of real strength ever escape notice? Seeing now that he hadn’t left together with Perfected Master Zhang, she offered a reminder. “If that’s so, perhaps you’d care to dine on the third floor?”

“Let’s talk when I’m back.”

Shen Yi shook his head and strode quickly out. Interested though he was in fare that could rival treasure pills, the real business came first.

“…”

Cautious, yet in the end no match for his own ambition.

It had only been an offhand reminder, and Mei Xiyao had no intention of pressing him to stay a second time. Only — coming back might well prove no easy thing.

Heading west from Eight-Direction Valley, what met the eye was a pair of hawk’s-beak cliffs facing one another, looking much like a towering archway.

Zhang Mingyang stood beneath the cliffs with his hands behind his back. Even having been through it many times, his eyes still held longing.

The cultivators of Xianzong — even the ordinary disciples of the kind who’d left the inner sect to seek out some quiet place elsewhere — could build a cave estate this exquisitely, this masterfully. That even after long ages it could still bar men like himself outside, forced him to sigh in helpless admiration. In truth the cultivation of their own Spirit-Transformation-realm group might not be much below the estate’s master. But when it came to techniques, means, and breadth of experience, they fell far, far short.

He silently reckoned the timing.

Around the sixth turning of day into night, moonglow draped the Hawk’s-Beak Cliffs like fine gauze. And at the archway formed by those two cliffs, a faint curtain of light welled up.

The cave estate had opened!

Nearly everyone’s eyes turned blazing hot. But hemmed in by Perfected Master Zhang’s stillness, they had no choice but to forcibly restrain the excitement in their hearts.

“When has my Xuanguang Cave ever been the domineering, high-handed sort? There’s no need to mind me, everyone. Please, do as you will.”

Zhang Mingyang flicked his sleeve, dispelling everyone’s misgivings.

Those of lower cultivation still wavered, but the ten-odd Mixed Origin Grandmasters cupped their fists in salute. “Our thanks, Perfected Master Zhang. Then we won’t stand on ceremony.”

The small powers were shallow in depth; how could they compare to the two immortal sects? Even the War Temple’s collection was enough to make them drool. Mixed Origin Grandmasters of unremarkable birth had, one might say, already walked their road to its end. However perilous they knew it was inside, set against the agony of no way forward and the torment of a lifespan nearing its end, they would let no opportunity slip. And should their luck hold, and they find a Spirit-Transformation-realm technique — perhaps the power behind them might one day rise to the foremost rank as well… might even replace Great Qian’s War Temple, who could say.

As the words fell, radiance flickered across each of them. The vast presence of the Mixed Origin realm spread out and surged skyward. Ten-odd figures leapt up, and the instant they touched the light-curtain of the archway they merged into it, their forms and their auras vanishing together.

With someone taking the lead, the remaining cultivators grew eager to try as well. Their cultivation was low to begin with; fall behind the others now, and even with the ancestors’ blessing, should they truly come upon something good, there’d be no holding onto it. In a flash, several dozen more rushed in.

The rest quietly watched Perfected Master Zhang. They belonged to those who’d simply come along with the tide, and now that they’d actually reached this place, they hesitated again.

Zhang Mingyang gave a smile, not much caring. He only murmured a few words to those behind him, then, together with the old man in gray and two others, walked unhurriedly into the light-curtain.

“This—?”

The gathered cultivators, looking at the one man left behind, suddenly felt something was off. If they remembered right, that man too was a renowned Perfected Master of Xuanguang Cave, called Zhang Chenlin, his cultivation at the extreme peak of Mixed Origin. Exploring the cave estate — and they’d left him outside?

“Heh.”

Zhang Chenlin stood where he was, gazing at the light-curtain with a look that was not quite a smile.

At the sight, the cultivators at once held their breath, hearts still pounding with lingering fear. Thank goodness they hadn’t acted rashly — who could have imagined a power like Xuanguang Cave would stoop, for the sake of one cave estate, to something as sordid as “guarding the door”? They truly had thrown their faces away entirely.

“Let’s go, quickly.”

The crowd murmured a few words and quietly withdrew outward. Even if they got hold of something, they couldn’t carry it out — so why take the damned risk? Anyone who went in was a fool.

Just then, one “fool” finally set his feet moving.

Shen Yi raised an eyebrow. He’d assumed Xuanguang Cave had prepared some scheme, but after watching quietly for a good while, all they’d rolled out was a ploy beneath even a village bully. A waste of time.

Under the crowd’s stupefied gazes, the ink-robed young man swept across the sky and strode straight into the light-curtain, right over Zhang Chenlin’s head.

“Wait — you can still get in like that?”

They stole a glance at Zhang Chenlin and found his expression as ugly as could be.

“The others are Mixed Origin Grandmasters — naturally they’ve a measure of nerve.”

“So young, too. No telling which great power he came out of.”

“If he were really from a great power… how could Xuanguang Cave fail to recognize him?”

This crowd talked in low voices even as they retreated. But for all their discussing, no one could make out the young man’s background. Their thoughts ran their separate ways — some regretful, some feeling a pang of fellow-sympathy, for only the disciples of small powers knew how precious a road that could carry them on to the next realm truly was, worth staking everything to seize. But most of all was the derision of those who prided themselves on prudence. However high his realm, in the end he was just a young man who couldn’t sit still with his temper — their realms might be lower, but in all likelihood they’d outlive him by a good margin.

While the discussion buzzed here—

Somewhere outside Eight-Direction Valley, a white crane stood quietly in place, several other demons in tow. Before them, a cramped, narrow light-curtain slowly took shape, like a tear in a garment.

Even the most flawless of formations, after the passage of ages, would come to have its flaws. If word of this had reached even Core-Nurturing cultivators, how could the Thousand Demon Den know nothing of it? They’d only feigned ignorance — meaning to give Xuanguang Cave a little surprise.

(End of Chapter 255)